Punic language Translation On Other Language:

The Punic language, also called Carthaginian or Phoenicio-Punic, is an extinct variety of the Phoenician language, a Canaanite language of the Semitic family. It was spoken in the Carthaginian empire in North Africa and several Mediterranean islands by the Punic people from about 800 BC to 600 AD. The Punics stayed in contact with Phoenicia until the destruction of Carthage by the Roman Republic in 146 BC. During the time periods Punic was spoken, it underwent a lot of changes. At first, when Punic was closely related to Phoenician, there was not much of a difference between Phoenecian and Punic, but as time went on, and Carthage and her colonies lost contact with Phonecia, Punic began to become less influenced by Phoenicia and more influenced by the local languages of the area around Carthage. The term Neo-Punic has two contested meanings. The first meaning refers to the more formal Phoenecian script. The second meaning of Neo-Punic is that Neo-Punic was the dialect of Punic spoken after 146 AD, after the fall of Carthage and after the Roman conquest of the former Punic territories. Neo-Punic, in the second sense, differed from the traditional Punic language because it spelt out words more phonetically than the former Punic language, and the use of non-Semitic names, which were mostly of Libyco-Berber origin. The reason for this difference was the dialectal change Punic underwent as it spread among the North-African peoples. Neo-Punic works include Lepcis Magna N 19, which dates back to 92 AD.